CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers have had success on the floor to begin the season. They are 13-7 and Joel Embiid is in the middle of another MVP campaign as he continues to take steps forward in the league.
However, a big X factor for the Sixers remains Tobias Harris. The versatile forward out of Tennessee has had a tough go of late. He is averaging 11.8 points, shooting 38% from the floor and a paltry 12.5% from deep over his past five games.
“Just again, can you stay with the things that we want him to do?” said coach Nick Nurse. “And I’m always looking at what we can to improve and put him in other little situations. I think we found a few things again after last night’s game that we can do to help him and not make too big a deal out of it.”
On the season, Harris is averaging 17.4 points and 6.1 rebounds. He is shooting 51% from the floor and 31.7% from deep. So one figures he will get through the slump he’s in.
“Just to use the football and baseball (analogies), you know, every now and then you just can’t hit for a few games, and all of a sudden he’s batting — like he’s too good a player,” Nurse continued. “He’s got too many skills. He fits into what we’re doing too much to try to blow it out of proportion.”
Harris had six points on 3-for-9 shooting in Wednesday’s win over the Washington Wizards, but Nurse saw some winning plays from him despite the struggles.
“What I do like is he made a whole bunch of what I would say game-winning plays last night,” Nurse added. “There was a huge blackout on the weak side with about 1:40 to go that he just crushed (Kyle) Kuzma and grabbed the rebound. He continued to make some really nice plays and that’s what I always say. You gotta keep doing those things and then I think good things will happen to him.”
Nurse continues to use positive reinforcement with his Sixers. It doesn’t matter how well or poorly you shoot, it comes down to making winning plays, and Harris has. Nurse let him know about it.
“One-hundred percent,” the coach explained. “One-hundred percent. We talked about it walking down the hall after the game last night. There’s things that I thought I saw that I thought we can help him with offensively, but I didn’t just tell him listen, you made a really tough good plays man even though it wasn’t really going your way offensively and that’s again I keep striving for guys to do that. Keep making plays to help the team even when you’re 2-for-12.”
Marcus Morris Sr., who was a teammate of Harris while with the Detroit Pistons in 2016 and 2017, knows Harris well, and he believes he will turn things around.
“I’ve known him for a while,” Morris said. “We’ve been drafted the same year. So I tell them I mean, it happens in the NBA. The good thing about it is that you play another game the next day or next few days, so he kind of forgets about that game. But at the same time, I can understand his frustration, he wants to play better.”
Morris, like Harris, knows the business of the NBA. He understands his teammate is in a contract year, and he is frustrated he isn’t playing as well as he’d like considering the situation.
“It’s a contract year for him,” Morris finished. “A lot of other things go into that. He has a lot of guys behind them. That’s another thing but my thing to him is just stay in it. Like regardless of how it goes, it can turn around so fast. You’re getting the minutes. You’re still starting which is extremely tough in the NBA. So he’s been around these guys for a while. Just sit down with your team, talk to them, figure out how you can fit yourself in, and continue to play man. You get the minutes that (expletive) can turn around any time.”
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